SOLIDARITY MESSAGE FOR THE 3RD ADVOCACY FORUM OF THE CATHOLIC EDUCATION ASSOCIATION OF THE PHILIPPINES

My warmest greetings to the Catholic Education Association of the Philippines (CEAP) NCR as you hold your 3rd Advocacy Forum.

More than four decades have passed since our country was placed under the rule of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Under his authoritarian regime, thousands of Filipinos were killed, tortured, abused, and arrested; countless more disappeared. Our foreign debts ballooned and poverty worsened.

Given this dreadful experience during the dark chapter in our history, we never thought that years later, we would again experience Martial Law. Despite the pronouncements of the AFP and PNP that the situation in Mindanao was under control, Duterte still stubbornly imposed this rule on the island. But what is even more disturbing, the Supreme Court voted 10-5 upholding the so-called validity of the second extension of Martial Law in Mindanao. This is twice as long as the original extension and translates to 565 days of Martial Law since its first declaration on May 23, 2017.